Ag-Gag Laws: Targeting Investigators, Whistleblowers, and Journalists

“Ag-gag” bills are being introduced around the country in an attempt to censor whistleblowers, investigators, and journalists who expose animal welfare abuses on factory farms and slaughterhouses.

Investigations by groups like the Humane Society, Mercy for Animals, and Compassion Over Killing have exposed shocking animal cruelty and consumer health dangers in the food industry. They have led to the largest meat recall in US history, criminal charges, and international media exposure.

Rather than put a stop to these abuses, corporations are trying to criminalize the whistleblowers who expose them.

A new Wyoming law expands on the “ag-gag” trend of criminalizing whistleblowers in a new way: making it illegal for citizens to gather data about environmental pollution. Wyoming’s Senate Bill 12, or the “Data Trespassing Bill” as it’s being called, criminalizes the collection of “resource data.” It defines collection as “to take a sample of […]